Riddle Me This
by Bloody Dead Rose
Summary: Holly has just saved the artifact of a lifetime, but was it meant to be saved? Someone is sending Artemis riddles, but he doesn't know who. How is this connected? Rating just in case. ch.6 is up!
1. Dragons and Riddles

Chapter 1

Holly felt excitement rise in her throat. After all the research, after all the hard work that the faerie scientists had put in, they had finally done it. They had finally found it. The fang of a golden dragon, the last artifact left from the extinct species.

Holly, along with Trouble and three archaeologists were suspended in the air with hummingbirds over the Weddell Sea. The scientists had found the dragon fossils in the bottom of the ocean during one of their scans, but had almost passed it over. All the millions of years that the bones have been underwater, what good could they be now? But then the computer picked up the tooth. Still full of the same shining, natural luster as if it was new. They couldn't believe it.

It had taken much time to get the fossil up from the ocean bottom, due to the fact that the water was so freezing that the faeries couldn't just dive into it and retrieve the tooth. Therefore, they sent a machine down. At first Foaly was skeptical about it even being possible. And if Foaly is willing to admit that he might not be able to do it, then you know that it had to be rough. Foaly's little marvel had done it though, and now Holly was watching the bone structure slowly rise up to the surface. In the moonlight the white bones glittered through the ice. It was almost beautiful.

"Nice and easy," Holly heard Foaly's voice in her earpiece. "Wouldn't want to bump it and lose that tooth, not after all that work that we put into this. It would be such a waste, that little fang has more magic in it then the strongest faerie."

"And I'll add that to the list of things that I know but never cared about knowing in the first place," Now Holly heard Root's annoyed voice coming in over the mike. "Would you just pay attention to what you're doing you stupid pony?"

"Oh don't worry beetroot," said Foaly. "I'll keep a hold of your precious tooth, lord knows you'll start losing yours any day now."

Holly had to bit her lip to keep from laughing.

But then she heard the thud.

Her eyes quickly darted down to the fossil, and to her horror, she saw it breaking apart. Foaly had hit a small piece of floating ice.

"No!" She heard one of the scientist scream.

"FOALY!" came Root's voice.

Foaly said nothing, he was to shocked at his own mistake to even form words.

"I'll get it," said Holly, but a voice stopped her before she had a chance to dive.

"Negative captain," said Root. "That water is colder then the artic circle, I think."

"But commander...."

"No Holly."

Holly wasn't about to listen this time though. She remembered stories that her father used to tell her about dragons like this one. She remembered their magic, their wonder. Holly was no scientist, but she knew what a find like this could do for those who were. This was not going to slip through her fingers.

"I'm going," she declared, and dived into the water.

"Holly!" She heard Root's voice on the com. "Pull up right now! HOLLY!"

She still didn't reply, ignoring Root and trying to ignore the cold that was seeping through her suit and into her skin. Her eyes shot around the dark water for a sign of the fang. Nothing.

Then she saw it.

A glint of white and gold among the black. She shot in that direction, Root still roaring in her earpiece.

"CAPTAIN SHORT," he yelled. "DO YOU WANT ME TO COME DOWN THERE AND KICK YOUR ASS?! CAUSE I'LL DO IT!"

But she was already breaking above the water, the fang in her hand. She couldn't only imagine how proud the first Captain Short would have been.

Artemis Fowl stared at the letter, completely baffled. Something that did not usually happen to him.

It was a riddle, a rather simple one in his opinion, but it was sent to him in the mail by someone under the name of "Salina Rodina". An odd name. Artemis would remember someone with such a name if he had ever encountered him or her. He knew that he hadn't, so why was this person sending him strange riddles? He looked down at the paper again.

"The man who invented it, doesn't want it.

The man who bought it, doesn't need it.

The man who needs it, doesn't know it."

The answer was obviously coffin, but why? That was the question that bothered Artemis. What is so important about a coffin? And who is Salina Rodina? Artemis had already done several scans on the name, and nothing came up. He even looked on a history database to see if it was just a copycat of an old criminal. Nothing.

Something was starting, Artemis knew it.


	2. Dangerous

Disclaimer: What's mine is mine and what's Eoin's is Eoin's.

Thank you all who reviewed!

Chapter 2

"You did a good job Short," said Root. "Even if you did disobey my order."

There was a tinge of something in Root's voice, was it pride? Holly wondered. Was root proud of her?

"Thank you Commander," said Holly humbly, though on the inside her own self-pride was brimming out her ears.

"This thing is amazing," interrupted Foaly. "It has to be over a 1000 years old, but you could swear that it's just been pulled out of the adolescent dragon's mouth."

Dragons, though human fairy tales don't make them out to be, were peaceful creatures. They never harmed anyone unless they were first attacked. As it happens, they didn't look very peaceful, so when a troop of Roman warriors came across them all those years ago, they assumed that they were troublesome, despicable creatures. Therefore, they attacked with everything that they had, and the dragons fought back. Unfortunately for the dragons, they were vastly outnumbered. Dragons, a little like faeries, didn't have many children. In fact, a healthy mother could only have two babies in her entire lifetime; an unhealthy one was lucky to have one child. The humans fought the dragons, and one by one, they pushed them into extinction. Holly shivered. Barbarians.

"So when will you be able to manipulate it's powers?" Root's voice broke into Holly's thoughts.

"You shouldn't use the word manipulate, it makes it sound like we're doing something wrong," replied Foaly, examining the tooth meticulously. "As for the time length, I have no idea. It could be days, weeks, months, maybe even years. It all depends on how it responds to science."

Root glared at the back of Foaly's head. "Some technological genius you are."

"This doesn't have so much to do with technology as it does history and the pure connection that the People and the dragons had."

Holly smiled as Root and Foaly continued to argue. Some things never change.

"How long are you going to be in here?" a female voice floated into Artemis' mind.

He glanced up from the computer and saw a pretty girl with blond hair and blue eyes. Emily, the typical wife for someone like him, even if typical wasn't quite what he wanted. What he wanted he couldn't have because of circumstances beyond his control.

"I have to find out who this Salina Rodina character is," replied Artemis.

"It was probably just a prank."

"A prank letter?" Artemis raised an eyebrow.

She shrugged. "Whatever, here." She slammed an envelope down on his desk and walked out of the study, silently fuming.

Artemis picked up the envelope, and immediately knew whom it was from. Salina Rodina, no return address.

Not knowing what to expect, he slit the top of the envelope open and let the letter fall out. Another riddle was laid out in front of him in sloppy handwriting.

"Children read about it

Adults don't believe in it

Teenagers don't care about it

And faeries have it."

Artemis stared at the paper in horror. Did this enigma of a person know about the people? Is he or she taunting him?

Holly sipped her coffee as she relaxed in the officer lounge. Commander Root had tried to send her home to rest, but Holly would have none of that. She had a strange longing to know the secrets of this tooth, though she had no idea why. So, for the last three hours she has been sitting in the lounge room, waiting. And waiting.

Then to the shock of everyone in the lounge and probably the building, they heard a scream.

Holly immediately dropped her cup and went shooting in the screamer's direction.

The screamer ended up being in the ops booth, one of Foaly's fellow scientists, as it happens. When Holly got there, she found her lying on the floor, a medic, Root and Foaly stood over her.

"What happened?" The medic asked.

"I don't know," answered Foaly. That was probably the only time that he had ever said those words. "She just touched the tooth, started screaming and collapsed."

Everyone in the room looked up at the tooth sitting on the lab table uneasily. It shone with brilliance, brighter then Holly had remembered it.

"She just seems so drained of energy," said the medic. "Give me a few hours and I may be able to explain what's wrong. Till then I suggest that no one, and I mean no one, touches that incisor."

He didn't have to say that twice, everyone in the room was so scared to death that they wouldn't go near that tooth for all the gold on the planet.

TWO HOURS LATER

"Well, I have discovered what's wrong with her, though I don't know how it happened," said the medic that had tended to the scientist earlier.

Holly, Root, and Foaly were all sitting in the medic's lab for a briefing on the scientist's, a pixie by the name of Mickha Martizi, condition.

"She's been drained completely of her magic," he said. "This has never happened before, and I believe that the stress of having it torn from her body like that caused her system to shut down."

"Do you think that the dragon tooth did it?" Asked Root, leaning forward in his chair.

The medic nodded. "That's what I believe."

Everyone was quite.

"Then we have to get rid of it," said Root eventually. "Bury it, burn it, whatever we can do to get it far away."

"NO!" A voice cried. It took Holly several moments to realize that the voice was her own, though she had no idea why she shouted that.

"What do you mean no?" Demanded Root, glaring at her. "That tooth is a danger to my officers."

"I know sir," said Holly, bowing her head a little in embarrassment. "But isn't just throwing it away a little drastic? I mean, it's such a great find.........."

"I agree with Holly," Foaly's voice interrupted the conversation. "We will need to put some precautions with it, of course, but getting rid of it would be a little idiotic after all we went through."

Root's face glowed red for several moments before he said, "fine, but only Foaly is allowed to touch it. He doesn't have any magic to drain."

With that, Root stomped out of the room, followed by Foaly. Holly was left trying to figure out why she wanted to protect the tooth so badly.

Not a very exciting chapter, but the next should be better. This was just kind of building the story up. Please review!


	3. Engraved in Steel

Disclaimer: I do not own Artemis Fowl.  
  
Eva Kasumi: Yeah, I almost always have a lot of typos and grammatical errors in my writing. The main reason for that is hat when I finish a chapter I'm so excited about it that I want to post it right away. That's one of my biggest flaws is my impatience. It takes place after EC, but Artemis has regained his memories from Mulch, I'll talk about that a little more in this chappie. I'll try to remember to proofread this one too. ;)  
  
Ever1: LOL. For what it's worth, he doesn't really like her either. She might die, who knows what will come out on this computer. I don't even know everything that's going to happen.  
  
Chapter 3  
  
Some history might be a little helpful at this point. Around the age of 15, a very strange person who went be the name of "Mr. Diggums" contacted Artemis. This communication came in the form of a package containing a small disk that looked slightly like a coin. After Butler examined it for any dangers and found it clean, Artemis slid the cd into his computer and opened the file. At first Artemis hadn't the slightest idea what anything on it meant. Whoever wrote this was talking about a book, and people crawling in the mud. Then it hit Artemis like a ton of bricks. His memories flooded back into his mind faster then even he could comprehend. Holly, Foaly, Root, the whole LEP, the goblins, the pixies, the ransom money, everything came back to him in a flash. A slow smile spread across his face at every new memory.  
  
Ever since that day, he and Mulch had been the perfect team. Artemis thought up elaborate plots and Mulch pulled them off. It was the perfect criminal relationship. It was difficult, of course, to keep all this hidden from Emily, but well worth it.  
  
In all honesty, he didn't really care for Emily. He hadn't even planned on marrying her until his true love's death, Alanis Darion. They were made for each other. She wasn't exceedingly beautiful, but she was pretty. She had a little passed shoulder length brown hair and shimmering green eyes, with a few freckles speckled across her nose. The first thing that Artemis noticed about her though, the first thing that drew his attention was her elfin feature that reminded him so much of his faerie friends. She was short, about 5'2 with a pointy look to her. Artemis almost thought she was a faerie, but this thought was quickly dismissed when he saw how shocked she was when she meant Mulch. She wasn't brilliant either, but smart enough to get her by. Artemis enjoyed her intelligence, he was able to tell her some things that she didn't know, but he could still carry a conversation with her. Like a glove and a hand.  
  
His parents didn't approve though. Alanis came from a middle class, unknown family. Not poor, but average. The Fowls didn't marry into average families any more then they married into poor families. Artemis had hoped, when he told his parents about the engagement to Alanis, that some of Holly's magic could find it's way back to Artemis Fowl the first and soften his heart slightly. But alas, all of her magic had been drained out of his system, and he quickly turned back to his cold self. He was angry at first, very angry. However, eventually he gave in and gave his consent. It was one of the happiest days of Artemis' life.  
  
Then, tragically after their engagement, she was killed in a car crash. Artemis wanted nothing to do with anybody after that. A few months later though he realized that he and his parents were the last of the Fowls, and if he didn't marry and have a child then the Fowl line would die with them. He couldn't let that happy, so he married the person that his mother had wanted him to marry all along, Emily. Emily, unlike Alanis, was extremely beautiful and came from a wealthy family. Emily was a perfect wife for an aristocrat, able to plan parties and decorate houses. Artemis didn't love her though, and that was enough to bring anyone down, even when they had such a beautiful, obedient wife.  
  
~*~  
  
"Talk to me," muttered Foaly to no one in particular. "Tell me what you did to those scientists."  
  
For the last week, Foaly had thought of nothing but the tooth. The LEP officers were taking bets on when he would have a nervous break down from all the stress he was layering on himself.  
  
"I don't think it can talk," a voice behind Foaly made him jump.  
  
"I know Holly," he said after he gathered himself together. "But I wish that something different would happen. One minute it's bustling with activity, stealing peoples magic and such, and the next it's completely idle."  
  
In frustration, he launched a wrench at the table. Very un-Foaly like, but not without repercussions. The tooth suddenly glowed brighter then Foaly would have thought possible, blinding him and Holly both. They would be seeing pink spots for several days. Just as quickly as it had come though, it was gone.  
  
Foaly gingerly walked over to the table, and then let out a small gasp. Holly ran to his side, repeating the reaction.  
  
On the tabletop, burned deep into the steel, was one word.  
  
Artemis.  
  
"Is that different enough?" Holly's voice shook ever so slightly.  
  
A/N: Foaly is a little ooc, and I'm sorry about that, but I need this scene really bad. Also, Alanis is NOT an elf, she just looked a little like one. She's not and elf, she has no relation whatsoever to the faeries. Just thought I'd let you know, so that people don't flip the switch on the Mary Sue alarm. Anyway, sry for such a short chappie, but I wanted a cliffie. 


	4. Waiting For You

Disclaimer: I own nothing that seems familiar.

Kelsey: I don't mind at all, I love it when my reviewers make guesses. Actually, your plot is close to mine, but not quite. Thanks for the review!

Aerin: Thanx for the spiffy reviews! ;) BTW, it was Emily who Artemis was talking to, Juliet's in America as a wrestler. Yeah, that "disobey" thing has been pointed out to me like a thousand times, thanks for caring enough to say something though. What do you mean a coincidence?

DemonOfShadow: Of course it is, I wrote it. OK, egotistical moment over. Thanks for the review.

Chapter 4

"What do you think that means?" Holly asked aloud, to no one in particular.

"That this tooth has something to do with Artemis," replied Foaly in his duh voice.

"Like what though? What could the tooth possibly have to do with Artemis?"

"I don't know," said Foaly with a sigh.

Holly's eyes widened slightly. That is not a phrase often heard by Foaly.

"I think that this has gone on long enough," she said, her famous determination returning to her. "I'm going to go have a talk with Artemis."

Foaly looked over at her with a raised eyebrow. "You sure that's a good idea? Root's still mad at him for getting his memories back."

Holly winked at Foaly. "Since when do you care about Root getting mad?"

Foaly smiled. "I think you should go talk to Fowl."

Holly landed perfectly on a brick ledge surrounding Fowl Manor. Any other day Holly would have taken the long road to Artemis' home, after all being handed a set of hummingbird Z7s was a rare occasion. Unfortunately for her, this wasn't any day. There was something creepy going on in Haven and she wanted it to end.

She glanced around, her eyes falling on the sneering gargoyle next to her.

"Yeah, you and me both buddy," she said with a tired sigh.

Not a moment later Artemis strode out of his vast manor doors to the Fowl Bentley, Butler close behind him.

Speak of the devil, she thought as she went to hover above them.

She looked around to make sure that no one else could see them before shutting off her shield and calling down to Artemis.

"Hey fowl," she said casually, "I've got a bone to pick with you."

Artemis looked up at her, surprise taking over his features for a small moment. Holly didn't believe his shock for a second; Artemis may have become a friend to the people, but leave a snake with it's head and it can still bite you.

"Captain Short," he said with an innocent smile. "To what do I owe this pleasure?"

"Save it Fowl," She said, making sure not to let her own smile break over her face. "I need to talk to you and Butler in private. It's important."

"Now will you tell me what's going on?" Artemis asked as he locked the door to one of the manors many dens.

Holly settled herself down on the soft antique sofa across from Artemis and Butler.

"What do you know about dragons?" She asked.

Artemis shrugged. "Not too much, just that they ravaged Europe and Western Asia until the humans killed them off."

Holly glared at him. "They didn't 'ravage' anything Fowl, the mudmen killed them unjustly."

Artemis held up his hands in a peace gesture. "Fair enough. What do they have to do with me now?"

Holly recounted the whole tale for the two, not leaving anything out.

"So this tooth has something to do with me?" Artemis asked skeptically after she had finished.

"Look," Holly started, not bothering to hide her exhaustion. "I know it sounds stupid and crazy, but would I be here if there wasn't something going on?"

"No," said Artemis. "I don't suppose that you would."

"You can't think of anything at all that could tie you in with this dragon?"

Artemis placed his hands on his temples and shut his eyes. When he opened them at last he said, "No, I can't think of one thing."

Holly sighed. "Then I'll need you to come down to Haven, just let me make a few calls."

Rose Mare, Foaly's young elfin intern, sat staring at the tooth in wonder. Foaly was fast asleep, he had been working for two days straight and exhaustion had overtaken him. She was left alone, unwatched with the incisor.

It's so beautiful, she thought. How could anything that beautiful be so dangerous?

"I won't hurt you," she jumped as she heard the disembodied voice. It was a woman's voice, gentle and sweet. "I want to give you knowledge beyond what you could imagine. Knowledge of death."

Rose glanced at Foaly, still asleep. The voice didn't disturb him. Could he hear it at all?

"Come child," said the hypnotic voice. "Come share in my secrets."

"Who are you?" asked Rose in a scared whisper.

"I am a ghost," said the voice simply.

"The dragon's ghost?" Rose couldn't keep the wonder from her voice.

The lovely voice giggled. "Oh no my child, this tooth is simply my host for the time being. I am a human ghost."

Rose hand hovered over the tooth, the white glow turned golden and even more beautiful.

"What do you want?"

"To share with you my secrets, such a young pretty thing deserves to know much. Is it not knowledge that you crave? After all, you are a scientist," the voice was so beautiful Rose couldn't help but move closer.

"You won't hurt me?" Rose asked.

"Why of course not, why would I want to hurt you?"

Rose smiled and ran the tip of her index finger across the incisor, cutting it slightly at the point.

The sensation of the cut was breathtaking at first, and then it grew painful. Rose's breath came in short gasps and she paled. Veins were growing underneath her skin as if they were about to burst and tears ran down her cheeks. The energy vanished from her body and she fell in a heap on the cold floor of the ops booth.

Artemis and Butler zipped themselves up in their pressure suits. They were Foaly's creations, of course, to help when the LEP was forced to bring the two down into Haven. Without the suits, the pressure underground would kill them. It was top secret, the LEP wouldn't want the civilians to know that the supposedly mind-wiped public enemy number one was being brought down every so often to their final frontier.

Though Artemis was going down their pretty much on trial, he was happy to be in Haven. With a simple note Emily thought that he was off on business, so he gets to be away from her annoying nature. That was a major plus. And who knows? Maybe those strange riddles he's been receiving are tied in with this tooth.

Holly ushered the two mudmen into the secret entrance of the LEP station. They careful headed to the ops booth, not wanting to be seen. Root and Foaly were waiting for them there.

"Well it's about time," said Root when they entered, not straying from his usual charm. "What are you up to Fowl?"

"Nothing at all," said Artemis innocently.

"Yeah right," said Root. "Hey Short, you wanna know what happened while you were gone?"

Holly swallowed. Something was seriously wrong.

"While the pony here was taking a nap," Root took a moment to glare at Foaly. "Young Mare touched the tooth, had her magic and about a quarter of her blood drained from her. This is worse then the first case for one big reason. She's the head councilman's daughter, and he controls our funds. When he finds out that we weren't even keeping the tooth under close watch he'll be livid."

Holly shut her eyes for a second. Maybe it would be better to get rid of the tooth.

"There's something else. She had cuts on her arms that spelled out words," Root pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket. "This is what it said."

Holly unfolded the paper and read silently. She felt Artemis staring over her shoulder at the writing.

I am unprejudiced, unbiased

I slip through the fingers of the rich

And poor

I am everything to most

And nothing to some

I am invisible to those that lack me

But clear as day to those that have me

I am in the center of unloved

I am sought after and hunted

And those that do find me

Let me slip away again.

"What is this?" Holly asked, staring at the paper confused.

"A riddle," Artemis said before anyone else had a chance to. "The answer is love, or possibly lost love. I've been getting letters with things like this for the past week. Mine have been signed 'Salina Rodina.'"

"Who's that?" Holly asked.

"I have the slightest idea, and trust me I have looked," Artemis replied.

"Well Fowl, I don't know if you're behind this or not and frankly I don't care. You'll be staying here until we figure this thing out," said Commander Root, snatching back the paper from Holly.

Artemis shrugged. He didn't really mind, he wanted this mystery solved as much as they did. And after all those years of simple burglaries and such, he needed a good adventure.

Holly sat by the tooth with a neutrino in hand. She, Butler and Root had been taking turns guarding it, not even sure what they're guarding it from.

Holly turned to stare at the tooth and it glowed brightly. Foreboding built up in her chest.

"I've been waiting for you captain," a gentle voice with no apparent owner said.

Holly jumped to her feet. "Who's there? Show yourself!"

"I'm not hiding Holly, I'm right here."

Holly looked around the room, not seeing anyone. Then with a fear rolling around in her gut she turned to the table, where the tooth lay shining brighter then ever.

"Aw, you've found me."

"What do you mean you've been waiting for me?" Holly asked, inadvertently taking a step forward.

"Exactly what I said. All night I've been sitting here waiting for those lugs to leave and for you to come. At last you have," the voice was sweet and gentle, but Holly sensed an evil coming from it.

"What do you want with me?" Holly asked. She knew that she should have called the commander the second she heard this thing talking, but something was holding her back.

"Oh don't say it like that captain. I'm not going to hurt you, actually I want you to help me. I've been stealing magic from all those other elves so I could make the transportation from this holding to someplace else. You see, I need a body."

"A body……….." Holly didn't even have to finish her question, a form suddenly rose from the tooth, a woman all clad in white with a transparent figure.

"Don't worry, this won't hurt a bit."

Holly fired at the creature, with no outcome.

The woman smiled. "Now, resisting won't help."

Her form flew at Holly and vanished inside of her. Holly collapsed on to the floor.

A/N: Dun dun dun. Please review.


	5. Not Holly

Lucky-Racer: Yeah, in order to need a coffin you have to be dead. Or a vampire I suppose, but that doesn't matter. Anyway, this story has a lot to do with death.

Chapter 5

Holly's possessed body stood up slowly, wobbling on her new legs. It had been so long since the ghost had stood, had been forced to do anything but float in a disorienting haze inside that tooth.

It had taken her years to pull herself out of the afterlife, but she did it. She was too young for eternal rest. Unfortunately, she didn't realize until after she had escaped death that she could not transfer into life, that time and fate were not so easily undone. She had found herself dropped in total darkness, an in-between place for escapees such as herself. She had to get out of it, but how? Then it hit her. With death their came a knowledge of things unknown to the living, and one of those things was a small fact about dragons.

Long before the first humans or faeries walked the earth, dragons were the rulers of everything. The purple managed time, the white life, the black death, and the gold the in-between places of all the formers. When she realized this, she went looking for a golden dragon skeleton with enough magic left in it to sustain her. The only one that she found was in the frozen waters of the Weddell Sea.

Therefore, she sat there for another year, hoping and waiting for discovery of any kind. Then her prayers were answered with the faerie archeologists finding. It couldn't have been more perfect,

Her transfer still wasn't finished. She needed a body with enough magic to keep her stuck in the world of the living. She chose an elfin host, for they can manipulate the most magic. All she needed was to steal a little more magic so she could make the transfer from the tooth to her chosen body. She received this magic from that foolish scientist and the young intern Rose Mare. She was ready for the transfer; all she had t do was wait until Holly was left alone with her. Then that idiot of a commander sent Short in to guard the tooth! He couldn't have made it any easier for her.

She flexed her fingers, manipulating her hand. It felt so good to be alive again. To feel the wondrous warmth of blood flowing through her veins and the cool breathe in her lungs.

"Short!" She heard a voice yell as a red-faced elf ran into the room. The ghost recognized him as the great Commander Root.

"What in frond is going on?!" He demanded.

"Nothing commander," she said innocently. "I thought I saw something, so I fired at it. Obviously I was wrong."

Root stared at her strangely. "Well next time you 'think' you see something make sure that it's actually there before you start waking everyone with your neutrino blasts."

"Yes sir."

He turned and stormed out of the room.

The ghost smiled. She was in.

"D'Arvit," Commander Root swore and he glared daggers at the tooth.

"We watched it all night and absolutely nothing happened," said Butler. "But somehow between yesterday and today the tooth dimmed. It's light is almost gone now."

"It doesn't make any sense," the possessed Holly put in, forcing herself to hide a smile. It made perfect sense to her.

"No, it doesn't," agreed Artemis with a small sigh. "Foaly and I stayed up half the night researching dragons and all we got were some old stories about the three most powerful breeds of dragon. It still doesn't make any sense with what's happening though, I couldn't think of a single tie."

"So…… what now?" Butler asked. A question that all of them were wondering.

"Now? Now I guess it's a waiting game," Foaly took it upon himself to answer. "Artemis and I have run every test that I can think of, we've done tons of researching, and there's still nothing. All we can do is wait and see what the tooth does next."

Root's face reddened. Waiting was not his game, acting was. This was going to be torture for him. "With all the money that we pour into your department you'd think that you'd be a little less useless."

Foaly tapped his hooves in slight annoyance. "With all those years that you've spent in the force –and that's a lot of years gramps- you'd think that you would have formed a little bit of patience."

The ghost rolled her eyes as the two's banter went on. How did Holly live with this? She was ready to throw something at the two of them ten minutes ago.

Artemis sat in the empty briefing room rubbing his temples. He didn't like failure, and that's exactly what had happened last night. Failure. He and Foaly hadn't solved the mystery of the tooth. They had failed.

He heard the whoosh of a door as Holly strolled in with a smile. Her happiness annoyed him, what was there to be happy about?

"Oh, still moping?" She asked.

"Hardly," replied Artemis with a glare. "We're waiting for a reaction from the tooth, what else am I to do but sit here?"

"Why are you sitting here instead of with the tooth?"

"And what, stare at that thing for hours on end and listen to Foaly and Root argue?" Artemis turned away from her and picked up a book on faerie weaponry that had been laying on the table hoping that it would make her see his lack of interest in their conversation.

She didn't take the hint. "So you shutting yourself up in here all alone has absolutely nothing to do with your lack of information on the tooth? It has nothing to do with the great Artemis Fowl not having all the answers?"

"That was simply a setback and nothing more, scientist experience them everyday. Besides this isn't my battle, it's yours. I don't care what happens to Haven so long as I'm not here when it does."

"Now, you know that's not true. You know you've cared about your friends here since before you even met me," said Holly, coming to sit next to him.

Artemis glanced up in surprise. "Holly, you're the first faerie I ever met if you don't count the pixie in Ho Chi Minh, I don't know what you mean."

"I'm not Holly," she said with a smile.

Artemis stared. "Obviously, you're not feeling well. Let me go get Root."

He started to get up but "Holly" grabbed his wrist. "I'm feeling fine Artemis, I'm just not who you think I am. I'm someone far more important to you."

Artemis pulled his hand away. "Holly…………."

"I'm not Holly! Can't you tell who I am? Don't you remember? The crash, the terrible crash. It was all taken from us, and it wasn't fair. We didn't deserve that…….."

Fear instilled in Artemis' eyes. "Alanis?"


	6. Meant to be

Yume Silvershadow: Yeah riddles are awesome! Sorry about the typos, I thought that I had fixed all of them but apparently not. That love riddle sucked, I agree. It's mostly because I couldn't find a good riddle with the answer to it love, so I had to make one up myself and obviously I'm not a riddle writer. Holly did seem weak I suppose, but you have to rather consider the fact that she was fighting a ghost! There's really not much she could do to defend herself and it all happened really fast. Yeah, glare at Alanis. I'm trying to make a character that people just love to hate. How am I doing?

Chapter 6

"Yes, it's me," Alanis answered, reaching out to hug Artemis.

He pulled away. "What are you doing in Holly's body?!" A thought struck him. "Where did Holly _go_?!"

"She's still here, just dormant. I can explain everything later Artemis, is this really how you want to handle our first conversation in so many years?" She smiled bemusedly.

"I don't want to have it all explained to me later," he said, anger seeping into his voice. "I want to know now. How did you get here? Does it have anything to do with the tooth?"

Alanis sighed, but, knowing that Artemis would not relent, recounted the entire tale about how she came back to life. Artemis waited until she was finished, and then shook his head.

"Ally, you can't do this."

This time she was the one shocked. "What are you talking about? I already have!"

"No, you need to undo it. The past can't be changed."

"But isn't this what you want? To be with me?" She jumped to her feet, her face red with anger. "I know that you love me. I went through all of this to get back to you and now you want me to leave? But we can be together now! We _can_ change what happened!"

"Not like this we can't," Artemis snapped, then his voice softened. "Ally, you're dead."

"Not anymore!"

"No, you're still dead, all you did was steal someone else's body. This isn't right, and it's not fair to Holly," Artemis said quietly, biting back tears. He couldn't break now.

"Holly?! What about _us_?! Don't you think that what we went through was unfair as well?! Don't you think that me _dying_ was unfair?!"

"Of course it was unfair, but it was also suppose to happen. If you weren't meant to die in that car then you wouldn't have died, but you did. You're not suppose to be here. You have to go," Artemis looked up, his eyes pleading with her, then something changed.

Her eyes – Holly's eyes – had glowed with Alanis' softness, now they were burning fire. He had only seen such mad rage in one other person, and that elf had died an untimely and painful death. Her eyes scared him.

"So," she hissed, her voice threatening to spit venom. "You betray me for some destiny bullshit? You want me to go back to the grave and rot? Fine, I'll go back. But just know that I'm taking many, many people with me."

She then turned and stormed out of them room, slamming and locking the door behind her.

Alanis cast her eyes around the plaza, seeing all of the innocent, unsuspecting victims eating slushies or talking on cell phones. They had no idea what was going on.

She smiled.

A/N: Really short chappie I know but I wanted it to end this way and I couldn't make it do that without adding in some useless boring crap that no one would have enjoyed anyway. Hey, you see that little purple button in the corner? Push that button. Push it and type a review, you know you want to.


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